This morning I had an early morning breakfast meeting with town leaders from a gorgeous and popular mountain town in California, and this question underpinned most of our very lively discussion… What is the ultimate combination for healthy living? Clean air and water, education and recreation and healthcare resources nearby… cool people, and cultural diversity? Mountain towns tick some of the boxes, but many people have jobs and families that keep them near the big cities. Some people think living in the mountains is hard… because it is.
But for more and more Americans, there is an antidote to pavement poisoning or exhaust inhaling or the tussle of the hustle and bustle of city life. It’s (surprise!) outdoor recreation.
This is evidenced by the recent introduction of 2 bills in Congress; Senator Wyden’s ‘RNR bill‘ (Recreation Not Red Tape), and The REC Act, measuring ‘Recreation Economic Contributions’ beyond the industry’s own metrics for the first time.
RNR modernizes public land management’s platform for permitting, moving from a resource extraction platform (mining, ranching, forest products removal) to streamlined opportunities for healthy recreation for us public land owners.
the REC Act measures the financial impacts of outdoor recreation activities, and by doing so recognizes outdoor recreation as the economic ‘experience economy’ engine that it is and has been for 50 years. Only in a world where extraction on public lands has defined ‘industry’ for twice as long, recreation has been seen as an afterthought mostly.
If you want to know more about the Winter Recreation Summit and national trends in #outdoorrecreation, give a listen to our KMMT interview from a few weeks ago
What have you noticed trending in the #OIBIZ? How do you think winter recreation communities can diversify their reach and become less reliant on deep, ski-able snowpack and the resort foundation that anchors their business?
Look forward to replies and learning more about this increasing national trend.
KH
